Manufacturing sales fall 1.1 per cent last quarter

Manufacturing sales fell 1.1 per cent in the December quarter compared to the September quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, Statistics New Zealand said today.

Stripping out the effects of price changes, seasonally adjusted sales fell 1.2 per cent.

Six of the 15 industries surveyed recorded falls in seasonally adjusted sales in the December quarter, compared to the September quarter. The largest decreases were for meat and dairy product manufacturing, down $165 million; and basic metal manufacturing, down $133 million.

The largest increase in sales was for petroleum and industrial chemical manufacturing, up $79 million; and transport equipment manufacturing up $62 million.

On a trend basis, manufacturing sales fell 2.0 per cent in the last two quarters of 2004. Over the previous five quarters, from March 2003 to June 2004, the sales trend had risen 7.2 per cent.

The fall in manufacturing sales, comes on the heels of Monday's release of retail sales, which rose 1.3 per cent in January compared to a 0.3 per cent fall in December.

- NZPA